Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Main Sim - Bridge - Unknown System Arrival!
[snip]

=/\= Hello again Dol. I have been discussing the situation with some of my senior officers and we would like to personally come down to visit you. Would that be acceptable? Also, you mentioned that the child was placed in one of your ‘seed pods’ and sent away, but that most of these don’t return. If the intention is that they learn about technology and customs of their hosts, and then return to you with this knowledge, are these just your normal children, or are they special ‘ambassadors’ of some kind? And now that we have accidentally interrupted one mission, what would be your suggestion for the child we have woken up? Finally, we can’t help but to wonder about the purpose of your unusual metallic headgear? =/\=

Dol nodded on the open comm line, =/\= Well we would be happy to host you and your officers, Captain. We have a meeting hall for this purpose on our habitat. Sadly it does not get used too often, but we’ll be sure to dust it off and cleaned up before your arrival!=/\= he said in a cheery yet professional tone. =/\= As for our seed pods? Yes many do not return, we do not know why only theory is that either the hosting ship prevented them or something happened to the ship or the child given. As for if these are our normal children? No they are not, these are children who through no fault of their own have been given up by their birth parents for one reason or another, or else something happens to their parents say by an accident. These children are then sent to a special care facility from then on to be raised by caretakers till they reach their first stage of maturity at what our age of six cycles would be. They are then given the choice to either pursue normal educational opportunities and lives, or enter into higher education and selection for training for our seed pod program. After two years of this training they are placed in a suspended animation pod until we encounter a passing ship. If no ship comes by then we awaken them after eight cycles and they return to normal lives of their choosing. As for what you would do having interrupted the child’s original host family ship? Well given I do not know which pod you encountered I can not yet look up which host ship it was assigned too. If possible though and acceptable I might ask you return it to the family that they had originally been intended for at some point..=/\= He said.

Glen had been considering only two options: returning the child to them, or taking the child with them to the Federation. He had not considered taking it to the Alstaireans, which he now realised was by far the most obvious option. He wasn’t sure that their treatment of orphans could be sanctioned under Federation values, but he had to accept that alien worlds had different measures of what was tolerated and socially acceptable, and these were exactly the kind of value judgements that the Prime Directive forbade them to make.

=/\= As for our headwear? It is a form of garb that harkens back to ancient times. Our stories say at one time in our distant forgotten past we once lived on a planet, perhaps in this system or perhaps another, we do not know. But on that planet our ancient ancestors were persecuted for their beliefs at that time and these hats were a symbol of keeping us separate from the ‘normal’ populace. At those times it was a symbol of oppression, but it is now proudly worn as a symbol of how far we have come and grown as a people since those forgotten ancient times=/ \= he explained.

Glen thought that this explanation made them seem even more conspirophilic than the hats themselves did.

=/\= In either case how soon would you like to meet? =/\= he inquired.

“Joe?” Glen asked. “Do you think 2 hours is enough time for us to get ready, to make an analysis of the probe’s nebula data, and for Cross to finish speaking to the child?” Acutely aware that he hadn’t given time to listen to Joe earlier, he asked him, “Any other thoughts on any of this?”

“Well,” Joe said as he absently scratched his chin. He hardly knew where to begin. “First off I think we should probably interview the child. And at the present our medical department doesn’t seem to know what species he might be. I think sir that since we have a source of intel, we should at least be taking advantage of it.”

Another thing sir is they said that they had never had one of these children returned. And then they seemed to dummy up really quick about not knowing anything about this program of theirs. Maybe this could be the first child to have returned? As in maybe he was the first in a large number and therefore had penetrated deeper into space than the rest? And then again, their proclaimed ignorance. What sort of people would commit so many resources to a program like this and not keep records? Sir they should know things from launch date to the name of the person launched and all sorts of other things. One doesn’t expend all that energy and resources without record keeping. ”

Joe cleared his throat then and said, “Sir we should be a lot further along in fact finding than what we are. In your place I would ask for a realistic estimate of time from your department heads to give you any information that you think may help you going into any meeting with these people. I wouldn’t want to see you sitting over there with egg on your face. If you need longer tell them your XO has lost his mind and you had to to subdue him and lock him up or something. But don’t go to the meeting uninformed.”

Glen replied to Joe, “Yes, I’m also frustrated by the lack of progress on the fact finding too, it was like they weren’t really trying, but I’m sorry if that frustration has been showing. Poor leadership on my behalf. I take your advice and I’ll stall the meeting with Dol for as long as necessary, until we think we have everything we can possibly get. I may have been wrong about my feeling that Dol and Sal were being economical with the truth. It may simply be their ‘way’ and the peculiarities of the Universal Translator. That’s why it is vital that we do get much more intel.”

Cross contacted Glen =/\= I’m about to start the psychological evaluation ,at the moment all I can give you is that he’s name is Franz =/\= The female doctor waited for any orders before closing her transmitter.

Glen replied to Cross =/\= That’s good getting ‘Franz’ from him. That will be helpful, but I need much more. Can you try… carefully, I know this is just a child, but try carefully to get more information? Does he have a surname, or some other designation, or even a ‘sleeper pod number’ or mission number of some kind? Joe wants you to ask him if he knows how many children were sent out in total? Was he the first, or the last, or somewhere in the middle? Does he know his launch date? That kind of information! What does he know about his childhood before? Is there evidence of brain-washing? I’m sure you know the score here. And also can you give me a realistic estimate of time when you will be finished? I need as much information as possible before going into any meeting with these people. =/\=

=/\= ” Captain the boy seem to be referring to the Alstarean sleeper ship he was put on along with the others and when he woke up thought we were the ones that found them .,he even knew the trip would last some years. Now this is where it gets a bit complicated.. this is Franz exact words ‘’ Did those people get back to what we thought was their home system safely and how many years has it been? Several of our cultural scientists I was told had awoken a few of the females up to inquire about them and their culture, as well as where they had come from and that our home system was not free for colonizing as they had hoped. I was told a pair of them would wake me up to be my new family..” =/\=

Back to more information =/\= The child was raised in a sort of institution with other children who had no parents, either died through illness or accidents. The name Franz was given to him by his mentor which the boy accepted. It seems he badly wants a mother and father, so my question is did he go in the pod willingly while knowing the danger of never being found or end up with some diabolic creatures who would offer nothing to his planet or was he lured by the promise of having a mother ?.
The anthropologist figured the constellation stars from the symbols, maybe he could take another look at the pod for another symbol which was put down for the pod to be identified ,much like we do it with numbers.

Tia gave him some broth with vegetables and juice which according to Hunter his digestive system tolerated it well. The boy said the egg held synthesize food for him so he could have artificial food, they could also be used as a power source , Tia calculated that he has been in the pod for about eight to ten years and that is were I’m heading with the evaluation…this is not a five minute evaluation just give me some time. Captain I know you did not ask for my opinion on this but maybe we are heading
on the verge of paranoia?..........Cross out =/\=

Joe stood listening and after Cross had signed off Joe asked Captain Glen, “Sir is there a preferred method of transport you would care for when we leave? I could make myself useful in the meantime making sure that everyone is ready to go.”

“That’s a good thought!” Glen replied. “They may not have Matter Transporter tech, so we had best leave by shuttlecraft instead. I’m disappointed Cross couldn’t give me an idea how long she would be, especially as she wasted so much time. However, I think two hours should be enough and the probe data can be analysed in that time. How about I tell Dol we will be there in three hours? I’m not sure what she means about paranoia. Do you?”

• Glen, CO

OOC: sorry kind of stuck waiting for the G.M to answer.
marthese.